Kayla Bibby, 41, submitted a 30-page application as the tower’s owners receive “strong expressions of interest”16:36, 21 Jun 2026Kayla Bibby with St John’s Beacon(Image: Liverpool Echo)A woman hopes to realise a dream she has held for 20 years by turning St Johns Beacon into a New York-style digital advertising board.Kayla Bibby, 41, from Bromborough, has submitted a 30-page application to the owners of the tower as she hopes to turn the former chimney, revolving restaurant and radio station into a “sky bar” and advertising space she describes as “the beacon that never sleeps”. Last week, the ECHO reported so many proposals have been submitted for the tower that representatives have had to extend the deadline for submissions.It has been more than 18 months since London-based landlords, Rivington Hark (RH) launched a formal Expression of Interest (EOI) process to find new operators for St Johns Beacon, seeking multi-operator proposals to transform the Grade II listed structure. RH said it would listen to “all ideas” for the beacon “however wacky” they may be.Kayla, who described having a 20-year career in civil engineering, has a long-held fascination with the tower, and in 2021 formed a company with the goal of turning the structure into a “digital lighthouse”.She told the ECHO: “I’ve been getting off at James Street station for 20 years, and the first thing I see when I walk up is the tower. I always thought, ‘They need to do something more with that;.”Kayla Bibby with St John’s Beacon(Image: Liverpool Echo)Kayla would like to see the top of the tower, which carried a banner for Liverpool ‘08 Capital of Culture for many years, turned into a huge digital advertising board. She submitted several renderings of the idea alongside the application.Kayla said: “Other major cities around the world are doing the exact same thing. I think this is precisely what Liverpool should be doing.”I might not have the money to fund it all myself, obviously I don’t, because it’s going to cost an enormous amount, but hopefully my idea gets shortlisted.”The display would be running 24/7. It would always be on, day and night, but the visual content would change throughout the day so that no two days are ever the same.”As part of the project, Kayla would like to see the junction of Ranelagh Street, Lime Street and Renshaw Street filled with digital advertisements in a project she calls “Ranelagh Circus”. The concept would see the area around the Adelphi and Lewis’s filled with digital screens, inspired by New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus.Part of Kayla’s proposal for the tower would see the radio station studios stripped out and replaced with a ‘sky bar’. She added: “Leaving a building like that empty for that length of time is an absolute waste. We need to do something productive with it very soon, but it has to be something special.”St Johns Beacon on Basnett Street, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)The landmark, known to many as the Radio City Tower, has been vacant since the station moved out in late 2024, with increasing speculation surrounding its future. The 138-metre building was completed in 1969, with the famous revolving Tower Restaurant opening at the top of the building in 1971. For the last quarter-century, the tower was occupied by Radio City.Radio City, rebranded as Hits Radio, made its last broadcast from the tower on Christmas Eve 2024. St Johns, the management company for the tower, market and car park, said that the building was in need of remedial work after the last tenants, Bauer Media, moved out after almost 25 years.These works are now nearing completion, and multiple offers and “strong expressions of interest” have been made by companies hoping to occupy the tower.St Johns Centre director Neil Ashcroft previously told the ECHO the firm would “take the time to ensure we secure the right use for the Beacon’s long-term future.”The ECHO reported last year that there had been multiple offers made by firms hoping to take up residence in Liverpool’s St Johns Beacon.The deadline was scheduled to expire on Friday (June 5), so the ECHO reached out to representatives of St Johns Beacon to ask about the results of its search for ‘expressions of interest’.A spokesperson told us they were delighted with the response thus far, and due to the scale of interest, they had extended the deadline by a few days.
Woman’s plan to turn Radio City Tower into ‘Beacon that never sleeps’
